When I'm out, my Rupert is in the kitchen which we puppy proofed when we first got him and kept it like that, we just have a stairgate to keep him in the kitchen. Tobey (non dobe) has run of the rest downstairs because he's old and has never chewed. At my other house, the kitchen is split into two parts and they have a part each. When I leave Rupert he has his bed (a tough material one, as he wrecks fluffy ones) and some Kong toys.

When we're in they both have free run of the house, never had any chewing problems apart from shoes left when Rupert was a very small pup, so we put them out of the way.

I really feel like it's unfair to keep dogs in crates for really long periods of time. I appreciate that some people have no choice or prefer it that way, but I wouldn't personally keep any if mine in a crate for more than a couple of hours.

My doberman is 11 months old. She doesn't have a crate. When I first rescued her at 9 1/2 months old from a local humane society, I barely left, and if I did, she came with me and I'd bring someone and wait in the car with her while they ran in ha! When I leave, she goes upstairs and sleeps on my bed (usually with one of the two cats), or sleeps on the first step (which faces the front door). She has a make shift bed downstairs, but she's a spoiled little dobe so of course she sleeps in bed with me! She's a chewer, but when we leave she just lays and waits for us to come home. I'm sure she occasionally barks out the front window. I just got extremely lucky with this. I'm not opposed to crates, but I wanted to really avoid them since she was a shelter dog. I also thought that I was going to for sure be buying baby gates. I just got really lucky.

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We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. - Immanuel Kant

I hate having to crate my guy. He doesn't seem to mind at all and in fact will put himself in his crate when I'm getting ready for work. But when I come home, he lets out this cry/whimper/yawn/I don't know what to call it sound. That is what I hate the most.

I've let him out before, and sometimes he is perfect, other times something insignificant will get chewed. He is not bad, just probably misses his daddy and gets restless. Since the ex left and took the other two dogs, my guy has made his bond with me...so I understand his frustration.

I try not to think about it cuz it makes me sad, but it's for his own safety. Hopefully one day I'll find me another woman and/or companion for him so he won't be lonely whilst I'm away.

Toby stays in the living room when we go out, he has done this since he was about a year old. He can go into his crate if he so wishes, I don't lock him in there, but more often than not he will sit on one of the sofas until we return.

In truth I don't like to leave my property due to the robberies and burglaries that are quite prevalent in this region. Whilst my TV can be replaced, my dogs cannot so we tend to leave someone in and rarely go out as a family. Sad I know, but necessary in this day and age I feel.

Russell (Terrier) stays down the other end of the house, with 2 doors between him and Toby (as they fight).

Eli my doberman has full run of the house with a dog door that leads to a yard completely fenced in with privacy fencing. He and my old girl Ginger have the house. When Eli was a puppy I put him in a 6x6 pen in my garage. The garage had windows and was comfortable. I put a covered dog house, blankets and lots of toy and chewies for him in there. He was fine with blankets, he didn't chew them. I also built the pen over a 7 foot plyboard base so he wouldn't be on the colder garage floor. I worked out well and I was able to come home lunch and walk him, play with him etc. When he was about 10 months I couldn't come home for lunch anymore and I hired a pet sitter for lunch. About 2 months before we moved into our current house I arraigned the indoor garage pen to have access to the dog door going out to a huge dog run 30x20.

He was crate trained at night as a puppy but I'm not a fan of leaving dogs for more than 4 hours during the day in a crate. I know some people must do this but I didn't want to. When we moved I put in a dog slider door and I confined him to the family room with the dog door. The first couple of day he brought sticks from outside in but that stopped soon. Eventually he was allowed freedom in the entire house. He was never a super destructive dog. He did chew dog beds, then, not now. He did rearrange pillows on the couches but overall he wasn't bad at all.

I now have a collie pup who is 7 1/2 months old. In the new place we have an awesome set up for him. He has a large dog run (don't know the exact size but large, with privacy fencing also. I have a separate bird room which is divided in half, the pup has a dog door that goes out to the run and then he can go inside the bird/dog room where is is air conditioned in the summer and lightly heated in the winter. I have a coolaroo bed, toys, water and a big blanket for him in there. It has worked out so well! He is not house ready and I don't want to leave him alone with Eli since they are both males. My husband built the bird room/dog room with the dogs in mind along with the parrots. When my puppy was younger, until he was 5 1/2 months old he lived in the nook in the kitchen. I had a pet sitter come at lunch, feed and play with him. Then when he was old enough he went to the run/dog room area. I wish I didn't work full time but I do so I had to make it work for us, for the dogs. I get up at 4:30am so I have time to run the dogs at the field and train, from 6:00-6:40 and yes we start in the dark and yes BRRRRRRRRRRRR but only for husband and me not the dogs. LOL.

So, a lot more than you asked for LOL. I think it all depends on how long you will be gone and how destructive your dog is, how much you can train and exercise when you are home and several other factors.